Battery core machine and method



+ 1 17, 1948. 5, MAY

BATTERY CORE MACHINE AND METHOD 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 18, 1945 IINVENTOR Begjamm May 5r Y A M B BATTERY CORE MACHINE AND METHOD 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 18, 1945 INVENTOR Bey 61min 5/ A TTORNE YPatented Aug. 17, 1948 UNITED STATES 2,447,197 BATTERY CORE MACHINE ANDMETHOD Benjamin May, New York, N. Y., assignor to May Machine Company,New York, N. Y., a copartnership Application June 18, 1945, Serial No.600,045

9 Claims.

This invention relates to machines and methods for making the cores ofbattery cells and relates particularly to the means and method forinserting the carbon pole into the bobbin of the core.

In machines of this character, suitable powdered material is compressedto form the bobbin which is then pierced and the carbon rod insertedwith the rod projecting from the bob-bin.

I have found that the mere insertion of the carbon rod into the bobbinby methods heretofore used do not hold the rod firmly enough to preventit from becoming loose. The rod therefore does not make good electricalcontact and sometimes falls out of the bobbin. Nor do previous methodsand machines compress the powdered material of which the bobbin is madesufiiciently to produce a homogeneous core principally because thegreatest pressure isput upon the powder at the surfaces where it is indirect contact with the die whereby the central portion of the bobbin isnot compressed to the same extent as the outermost part thereof.

My invention therefore contemplates the provision of a machine and amethod for remedying the above-pointed out difiiculties.

My invention further contemplates the provision of mechanism forsupporting the carbon rod during the entire period of its insertion intothe bobbin, said mechanism also centering the rod accurately in properaxial alignment with the bobbin.

My invention further contemplates the provision of mechanism operatingindependently of the rod-inserting means for compressing the bobbinaround the rod during the final part of the inserting movement of therod whereby the rod acts as a die to compress the interior or centralportion of the bobbin to the same extent as the outer portions thereofare compressed thereby to form a homogeneous product and at the sametime to hold the rod firmly in place against possibility of dislocationor loss, said means being operated at relatively high speed to deliver asharp blow to the bobbin.

My invention further contemplates the provision of a method of insertingthe rod into the bobbin in such a manner that chipping of the parts isprevented, the parts are firmly held together and a homogeneous productis assured, the method being carried out by a hammering or compressingoperation at higher speed than that of the inserting movement of the rodinto the bobbin.

The various objects of the invention will be clear from the descriptionwhich follows and from the drawings, in which,

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a battery .cell core making machineembodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical section thereof taken on the line 2-2of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a front view of the compressed bobbin as it appears before thehole is pierced therethrough.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section of the pierced bobbin.

Fig. 5 is a similar view of the pierced bobbin and the rod as theyappear at the beginning of the rod inserting operation.

Fig. 6 is a similar view of the same showing the position of the partsduring the final part of the rod inserting movement.

Fig. 7 is a similar view of the parts in the positions assumed therebyat the completion of the rod inserting and bobbin compressingoperations.

Fig. 8 is a front elevation partly broken away of the means forperforming the additional bobbin compressing operation and for guidingand supporting the rod.

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. 8showing particularly the means for supporting the rod during itsinsertion into the bobbin.

Fig. 10 is a vertical section of the rod supporting and centeringhammer.

In the practical embodiment of the invention as shown by way of exampleand referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, the turret II isintermittentiy rotated to carry it to four different stations at whichthe various operations are performed. At the station indicated by thenumeral I2 of Fig. 2, powder is supplied to a suitable preforming deviceand the powder is compressed into a bobbin in a manner more fullyexplained hereinafter. At the station indicated by the numeral l3, thebobbin is pierced while the turret is at rest. At the station marked M,a carbon rod is inserted into the pierced bobbin and the additionalhammering or compressing operation forming an important feature of thepresent invention, is performed. At the station marked l5, the completedcore is ejected from the machine. The turret iis mounted upon the shaftl7 passing through the bearing I8 and carrying the Geneva Wheel l9.Cooperating with said wheel is the Geneva pawl 20 on the shaft 2| whichalso carries the bevel gear 22 meshing with the cooperating bevel gear23 on the drive shaft; 24. Said shaft 24 being rotated by any suitablemeans causes rotation of the shaft 2| whereby the turret is rotatedintermittently from station to station.

Suitable tools are provided for performing the various operations incooperation with the turret while the turret is at rest. Said tools arecarried by the reciprocating tool holder or cross head slidable in theguides 26, 21 and carried by the reciprocating shaft 28. Reciprocationof the shaft is effected through the crank 29 on the drive shaft 24 andthe .connecting rod 30 the end 3i of which is supported for horizontalmovement in the guides 32, 33 and is connected to an end of the shaft28. It will thus be seen that on each revolution of the drive shaft 24the tool holder 25 is reciprocate'd at the proper time after which theturret H is rotated to its next position through a quarter turn.

Carried by the tool holder 25 is the initial bobbin compressing rod 34.Said rod compresses the powder deposited in the form 35 by any suitablemeans such as a hopper or the like well known for that purpose and hencenot shown. As, best shown in Fig. 2, the powder is deposited in'asuitable semi-cylindrical cavity as 33 in the f orm 35 whereaftei: themember 31 having a complefriehtary semi-cylindrical recess as 38 thereinis moved downwardly, as shown by the arrow of Fig. 2, into the form 35to mold the powder roughly into a cylinder 43. When the rod 34 passesthrough the recesses 36, 38 it inserts the powder into the die 39carried by the turret and compresses the powder against the fixed member'41; supported by the frame 41 secured to the bed '42 of the machine.The cylindrical mass '43 of powder (Fig. 1) is compressed into thecylindrical bobbin 44 (Fig. '3). "On the retraction of the 'toolholder25 and thesubsequent rotation of the turret ll to its next station, thebobbin 44 is carried to the station l3 and the tool holder 2531s againreciprocated to carry the'piercin-g 'rod "45 thereon through th'ebobbin'to form the hole '46, the removed material falling through the opening41 of the fixed member 48, it being un- 'de'fstoodthat at the same timethe member '34 is operative to form a bobbin at thestation l2. At thenext station, my'imp'roved mechanism 15pmvided for inserting the rod 49into the bobbin aswillbe seen from Figs. 5, '6, and 7,;the mechanismfor. this purpose being operatedindepend- 'ently ofthetool holder orcross head "25 and be- 'iri'g an important feature of the presentinvention. Such mechanism will now be described'in detail.

As best seen in Figs. 2 and 8, the shaft 24 car- 'rie's the cam 50providedwithfthe groove '5 I'. Said groove is circular through thegreater part of its circumference and is provided with a portion 52designed to cause the cam follower 53 to reciprocate quickly thereby tocause the rod support and hammer 54 to move quickly and withconsiderable force into contact with the bobbin 44 during a relativelysmall part drone revolution of the shaft 24. The connections between thecam follower 53 and the hammer 54 comprise the forked member 55straddling the shaft 24 and upon which the cam follower ismounted, thereciprocating link 56 suitably supported and guided for reciprocatorymovement "as by the bearings 51, "58, the connecting member '59 securingthe members 55 and 56 together-for movement as a pain and the arm 0secured 'to one end of the 'link'5i as by means ofthe tapered pin6'3an'd carrying the hammeri l. As best shown in Fi'g lO, said hammer'is provided with the ma opening 6| therethrough accurately alignedaxially with the hole 46 of the bobbin. The outer end 62 of the openingBI is flared so that should the rod 49 fail to be accurately alignedwith the opening the walls of the flared part 62 will urge the rod intothe opening and thereby accurately center the rod. The member 54 isretained in a suitable hole in the link 60 as by means of the bolt 64having a recess 65 into which part of said hammer is fitted, a lockingaction being secured by the rotation of the bolt as far as it can gorelatively to the ham- 'mer member. The carbon rods 49 are suitably fedone at a time to the preferably inclined surface 66 of the rod slide 61'by any suitable feeding mechanism well known in the art. The rod isaligned in its position substantially axially of the bobbin as by meansof the rear Wall 58 of the slide ready to be inserted into the hammerand bobbin by means of the inserting rod 69 carried by the tool holder25.

On the reciprocation of the tool holder, the inserting rod 39 engagesthe end of the carbon rod 49 and pushes said rodolf the slide'fil andinto the hammer 54, said hammer supporting said rod 49 during the majorpart of the time that the rod is being forwarded into-the bobbin. Itwill be noted that the flared end 62 of the hammer serves also to centerthe rod accurately with thehole 46 "and the hammer being of hardenedmateriaL'it is not likely to wear sufficiently to cause anyina'ccuracyin alignment as might occur by wearing action of the carbon rods upontheslide Sur'faceG'G. Said rod remains supported by the hammer during themajor part of the inserting movement and the hammer remains stationaryduring that time. However, preferably though not necessarily, when thecarbon rod is almost completely in"- serted into the bobbin and duringthe l'as't part of the inserting movement (Fig. '6) ,the hammer is movedrapidly by thecam 50 to again receive an end part of the rodj'49 and tostrike't-he end of the bobbin around the rod with considerable force(Fig. '7). The material of the kbobbin 'is thereby again"compressed'b'etween the die '39 and the carbon rod and alsobetw'e'en'the'fixed mem ber 10 and the hammer, thereby not only packinthe bobbin material *around the red, but also compressing said materialsubstantially in all directions and with substantially equal pressurethroughout'the mass the'reo'f to form a product much morehomogeneoxisthan is possible without the presence of the rod. The rod is also bound'firmly by the highly-compressed material and adequately held in place.

My machineis designed to operate upon cell cores and rods ofdifferent-sizes. Adjustment of the machine for a core of --a differentsize is readily attained "by -loo'senin'g and slightly turning the bolt34 to release the hammer and permitting the substitution of a differenthammer of the proper "size and bore, then again tightening the hammer.The dies 39 are also replaced with others oft-he desired size. Becauseof the difference insize of-the substituted parts, it may be necessarytoadju's't'the position of the hammer. This is readily done by adjustingthe effective length of the link 56 as by replacing the tubular spacer"1| (Fig 8) anda'dding or withdrawing shims "I2 as may be necessarybetween the member-"53 and theshoulder 13 o'f'the link'56.

It will be seen'tna't Ihave'p'rovided a machine and method capable ofeffectively accomplishing the purposes of theinveiition, remedying thedifficulties heretofore encountered as abo've pointed out, and-co'nstitutin'g a substantial 'advance'in the art.

While certain specific aspects of the invention have been described andillustrated, various changes may be made without departing fromthespirit of the invention defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a machine of the character described, a drive shaft, a toolholder, means on the shaft to reciprocate the tool holder, means on thetool holder and reciprocating therewith for compressing and piercing abobbin of powdered material, means on the tool holder and reciprocatingtherewith for inserting a rod into the pierced bobbin, and reciprocatingmeans mounted independently of the rod-inserting means and of thetoolholder and operative positively during the final part of and atgreater speed than the movement of the rod-inserting means to furthercompress the bobbin by a blow delivered to the bobbin just prior to themoment when the rod reaches its final position in the bobbin, saidindependently mounted reciprocating means comprising a cam on the shaft,a cam follower engaging the cam, a guiding and centering member for therod constituting a hammer, and a hammer-supporting connection secured atone end to the hammer and at the other end secured to the cam follower.

2. In a machine of the character described, a continuously rotatingdrive shaft, a tool holder carrying means for compressing and piercing abobbin of powdered material and carrying means for inserting a rod intothe pierced bobbin, means operated by the shaft to reciprocate the toolholder, a hammer supported independently of the tool holder and providedwith a passage therethrough for the rod, and cam-actuated means operatedby the shaft and supporting the hammer for reciprocating the hammer oneach rotation of the shaft through a stroke less than that of the toolholder and at greater speed than the speed of movement of the rod intothe bobbin to strike the bobbin around the rod inserted thereinto, saidcam-actuated means terminating at a point between the shaft and the toolholder.

3. A machine according to claim 2 wherein the means for reciprocatingthe hammer comprises a revoluble grooved cam, a cam follower, aconnecting rod connected to the hammer and to the follower andmaintaining the follower in the groove of the cam, and means forconstraining the connecting rod to move in a straight line path, the camgroove being shaped to operate the follower during a minor fraction of arevolution of the cam and the shaft and during a minor fraction of themovements of the rod inserting means and the means for compressing andpiercing the bobbin.

4. In a machine of the character described, a revoluble turret carryingat least four circumferentia-lly spaced bobbin dies, means for rotatingthe turret including a shaft and operative connections between the shaftand the turret, a tool holder reciprocated by the shaft, the turretbeing arranged between the shaft and the tool holder, means on the toolholder and cooperating with a first one of the dies for compressingpowder to form a bobbin, means on the tool holder and cooperating with asecond one of the dies for piercing the bobbin, means on the tool holderand cooperating with a third one of the dies for inserting a rod intothe bobbin, a hammer having a rod passage therethrough arrangedcoaxially of a fourth one of the dies and of the rod-inserting meansbetween the turret and the tool holder, said hammer being supportedindependently of the tool holder .and of the rod-inserting means, andcam-actuated means for reciprocating the hammer positively at a greaterspeed than that of the rod-inserting means to strike against the outersurface of the bobbin in the fourth one of the dies when the hammer ismoved in one direction by said hammer-reciprocating means thereby tofurther compress the bobbin, said hammer supporting the rod until thegreater partof the rod has entered the bobbin, said hammer-reciprocatingmeans positively retracting the hammer faster than the speed of theretracting movement of the rodinserting means and comprising a cam onthe shaft, a reciprocating support for the hammer. terminating at apoint between the turret and the tool holder, and a reciprocating camfollower engaging the cam and secured to the support.

5. The method of producing a homogeneous bobbin of powdered materialwith a rod projecting centrally therefrom and held firmly by the bobbincomprising inserting the ,rod into a pierced compressed bobbin andduring the movement of the rod into the bobbin and before said movementis completed further compressing the bobbin around the rod by a singlemomentary blow delivered at relatively high speed.

6. The method of producing a homogeneous bobbin of powdered materialwith a frangible rod accurately centered therein, firmly held by andprojecting from the bobbin, comprising compressing powdered materialinto a bobbin, piercing the bobbin, moving the rod into the piercedbobbin while supporting and accurately centering the rod, during thefinal part of the movement of the rod and before the rod is completelyinserted into the bobbin but while the rod is moving further compressingthe bobbin in all directions by a sudden hammer-like blow at relativelyhigh speed thereby to compress the material of the bobbin axially andexpanding the bobbin radially and tightly around the rod and continuingthe inserting movement of the rod to completion and without interruptionafter the blow.

7. In a machine of the character described, a cross head, means forreciprocating the cross head including a revoluble shaft and anoperative connection between the shaft and the cross head, means carriedby the cross head for compressing and piercing a bobbin of powderedmaterial and for inserting a rod into the pierced bobbin, said meansoperating at substantially the speed of the cross head, a hammerprovided with a passage therethrough for the rod, and means in spacedrelation to and independent of the cross head for reciprocating thehammer at a greater speed and through a shorter stroke than that of thecross head to strike the bobbin around the rod momentarily and therebyfurther to compress the bobbin, said last-mentioned means comprising acam on the shaft, a reciprocating fork straddling the shaft at a pointadjacent the cam, a cam follower on the fork and engaging the cam, and aconnecting rod secured at one end to the fork and at the other end tothe hammer.

8. In a machine of the character described, a continuously rotatabledrive shaft, a reciprocating cross head, operative connections betweenthe cross head and the shaft to reciprocate the cross head on eachrevolution of the shaft, means on and reciprocating with the cross headfor initially compressing and piercing a bobbin of powdered material,means on and reciprocating with the cross head for inserting a rod intothepierced bobbin, a bobbin-striking hammer between the shaft and thecross head andarranged coaxially of the rod-inserting means and providedwith a passage therethrough for the rod, and means operative during partof a revolution of theshaft for reciprocating the hammer at a greaterspeed in both directions than the speed of reciprocation of the crosshead, the hammer-reciprocating means comprising a cam on and rotatablewith theshafL-the cam having an operative portion extending through apart only of the circumference of the cam, a cam follower engaging thecam and reciprocated thereby, and operative connections to and betweenthe cam follower and the hammer, said connections being reciprocated bythe cam follower on each rotation of the shaft.

9. A machine according to claim 8 in which the operative connectionsbetween the cam follower and the hammer are independent of the crosshead and independent of the operative con- REFERENCES CITED Thefollowing references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 15 Number Name Date 859,640 Bright July 9, 19071,185,177 Casella 1- May 30, 1916 1,205,782 Powell Nov. 21, 19161,291,400 Casella Jan. 14, 1919 20 1,302,237 Sokolow et a1 Apr. 29, 19191,302,722 Sokolow et al. May 6, 1919 1,318,882 Kipniss et al. Oct. 14,1919 2,333,056 Thoreson et a1 Oct. 26, 1943

